Ghost Horse
by Blue-Starlight92
Summary: AU, book 7 disregarded. Hermione goes back for her 7th year, and everything seems relatively normal; until she goes walking one evening and see's something interesting "Hermione, that white horse has been staring at you for the past hour."


**A/N: Well, this is my first chaptered Harry Potter fic! I did a oneshot several years ago, but that left MUCH to be desired. Anyway, this is going to be rather AU, and I'm trying my hand (for the first time) at a horror-ish story. I hope you guys like it! I don't have a beta currently, so there may be some mistakes. **

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Hermione closed the last of the stall doors, but the huge horse inside was too busy eating to be any trouble. Despite her delight at going back to school, Hermione was also a little sad- she would miss helping out at her aunt's barn, which she had done every day since she got home from Hogwarts at the beginning of the summer. She and her cousin got along well, they were the same age, and though her cousin was not nearly so bookish- preferring the outdoors to the library- she still understood Hermione's love of knowledge.

Hermione looked up as she heard footsteps coming toward her. It was her cousin, Michelle, coming out of the feed room of the stable. Michelle Granger and Hermione didn't look a lot a like at first glance; Hermione's skin, now tan compared to how light it had been at the beginning of the summer, was still miles more pale than Michelle's, who worked out door's every day, and Michelle was more muscular than Hermione- again, from lifting heavy things that more or less came with the territory of working in a barn, and her hair sun-bleached blonde to Hermione's brown, but they were both slender, and had the same "Granger face" that favored both their father's, which made it impossible to deny that they were cousins. Hermione felt a sudden pang, she would miss her cousin dreadfully, they had become very close, like sisters, and even though Michelle had promised to write her often (daily was never a sure thing- so Michelle had settled for often) and send the letter's through her parents mail, it still wasn't quite the same as seeing each other face to face, or even a phone call.

"Tired yet?" Michelle smiled as she approached her.

"Physically, yes." Hermione smiled, wiping the beads of sweat off her forehead. "But I don't want to leave yet."

"There's always saddles to polish." Michelle had provided many excuses to Hermione's parents on why they had stayed at the stable so late- often until well after the sun went down. "And after that we could groom Twister and Joey. They'll be done eating by then." Twister was Michelle's horse, a black Hanoverian gelding with a sweet temperament; while Joey, who Hermione had been riding, was a red roan Welsh section E pony, friendly, gentle, and the biggest carrot moocher around.

"Sure." Hermione smiled. She knew that Michelle could tell how she felt; neither of them really wanted the day to end. She followed her cousin into the tack room- a room opposite the hay room, and about the size of two horse stalls put together, it held all the saddles, bridles, and grooming supplies of the stable's thirty horses. The stable was also a riding school, and a boarding stable; fifteen of the thirty horses belonged to Hermione's cousin, aunt, and uncle, four or five of which were their personal horses, and there were always saddles or bridles to polish, saddle blankets to wash and maintain, grooming supplies to organize, Michelle had thought of enough tasks to keep Hermione there at least several hours after feeding time every day during the summer, and Hermione welcomed it.

A few minutes after they had started soaping two saddles- Hermione with Joey's and Michelle with a saddle belonging to Sunshine, another one of the mares used for schooling- Michelle spoke again.

Michelle knew about Hermione's being a witch, she had figured it out, though Hermione tried to hide it, and, after quite a long time, accepted it. But Hermione didn't know Michelle had actually really followed what little Hermione had told her about the wizarding world, Michelle was the type that usually ignored things to do with the cities, and the equestrian's question took her completely by surprise.

"Do you think that you'll be okay going back to school?" At Hermione's surprised look, the girl gave a brief scoffing chuckle, then continued. "'Mione, I'm not stupid- how can I be, we come from the same family. You haven't told me what it is, but I know that something bad has happened. I remember the way you acted in the beginning of the summer. At the time I figured it was something to do with school, and when you told me about your being a witch, I knew it had something to do with it. I'm not asking what happened; to tell you the truth, I don't think I want to know, all I'm asking is… actually, I don't quite know what I'm asking." Michelle sighed as she finished.

Hermione nodded, paused for a moment, then spoke. "I honestly don't know, 'Elle. I've thought about it, I've considered the possibilities- even though I haven't much to go by, as my friend's seem as unsure as I am in their letters, but I'm willing to risk it. I can't just back away every time I'm unsure of something- that would be beyond cowardly. I have to go back, even though I'm not sure what will happen. To tell you the truth, almost no one knows of what happened, they only have words to go by- and they're not quite sure if they believe what's going on."

"But you do." Michelle said, and both of them knew it wasn't a question.

"Yes." Hermione nodded firmly. "I believe Harry. I know you've never met him, Elle, but if you had you'd know he's a trustworthy person. I have to believe him."

"'Mione." Michelle said seriously. "You know you're not trying out for Shakespeare, right?" The girl grinned. Hermione laughed too; she had to admit that maybe she had been a bit too dramatic.

"Haha, alright. But I am serious." Hermione nodded.

"I know, I know." Michelle nodded, still grinning broadly.

As the sun set further, the two fell deeper into companionable chatter, even as they finished with the saddles and moved to cleaning their two favorite horses. Even as Hermione left the stable and went home, the new feeling that nothing could go wrong stayed with her all through the night.

"Hermione? Are you alright?" Ginny Weasley's voice cut through Hermione's thoughts. She had been staying with the Weasley's, and Harry, of course, for several days now, and it was almost time to go back to school. She had been thinking about several things Michelle had said, sort of a muggle's perspective on the wizarding world, Hogwarts, and what was going on, what little Hermione felt she could explain without getting in some sort of trouble, in general.

"Oh, yes. Just thinking." Hermione nodded. Really, she needed to stop zoning out at lunch.

"Tell us something we don't know, 'Mione." Ron joked, making everyone laugh.

"Well, all I know is, I definitely want to be prepared for NEWTS this year. Preparation for OWLS was… horrific." Hermione gave a mock shudder. In reality, she didn't want to tell them what she had been thinking about… that many of the things that Michelle had said, though some of them she had, at the time, argued with, usually about the pointlessness of this or that law, or social code, some of which had had to do with the Order of the Phoenix, though Hermione had never told her cousin that. And Hermione was beginning to agree with her. In five days, she hadn't set foot outside the borders of the Burrow, and Mrs. Weasley was uptight enough about any of her children, including Harry and Hermione, setting foot outside at all.

Harry and Ron groaned. "'Mione, preparing for OWLS was bad enough!" Ron protested.

"Well, if you'd like to completely bomb the tests, I won't stop you." Hermione arched an eyebrow.

The two sighed, but Hermione knew they'd end up going with whatever study schedule she wrote for them, because she knew that they knew Hermione would never steer them wrong.

"Well, I've got some last minute packing to do." Ginny said, standing up to excuse herself from the table.

"So do I." Hermione said, excusing herself as well.

The two girls headed up to Ginny's bedroom, which they had been sharing since Hermione had gotten there. Summers and winters of doing this had led to the two being very good friends. Once inside, with the door closed, Ginny turned to Hermione.

"I think those two are planning something." She said, very serious.

"I got the feeling too- but if that's true, then they've probably not done much planning on it." Hermione said.

"How do you figure that?"

"You know that Ron's a horrible liar, and I haven't seen him trying to lie or anything like that." Hermione said.

"Hermione, Hermione." Ginny shook her head. "You've got to think of loopholes. If they are planning something, which I'm sure they are, they're not going to talk about anything to the opposite effect until they've gotten well into putting the plan in motion."

"That's true, when I was talking about studying, they complained, but they didn't put up much of a protest." Hermione nodded. "And neither of them have even brought up Quidditch Capitan the entire time."

"Because doing so would have caused them to lie, and with Ron's bad lying skills, it would have given the plan away." Ginny replied.

"I just wish I knew what it was- even an inkling." Hermione said.

"Perhaps an Order mission? Harry joined when he turned 17. Maybe Professor McGonagall has him doing something for the Order this year, and he's gotten Ron to help him." Ginny said.

"That could be it- a secret mission, so she'd either exempt or give them some sort of special privilege or tutoring for NEWTS so that they'd have more time to work on it." Hermione said.

"Whatever it is, we'll have to hound them about it on the train." Ginny said.

"Mmm-hmm." Hermione nodded, and looked at the little packing list, or not so little in the case of her books, she had made for herself.

"Good grief, Hermione, how many books are you taking?" Ginny laughed slightly, seeing the list of books- most of them already packed. Really, everything that had to go in her trunk was packed, she just always kept a small bag with her on the train with a few books, a set of robes, and other such important things, enough that she could survive comfortably for about a day if her trunk somehow got lost or something similar- it was a muggle traveling trick, and her mother always said that the one time she didn't travel with it would be the one time something happened. Currently, she was still trying to narrow down what books were going in the trunk and which in the bag. A few muggle fiction books were in there, and a few nonfiction, in both cases it was mainly horse books her cousin had given her over birthdays and Christmas' past; but Hermione was trying to decide if she might honestly try to re-read a few of her class books. She'd already read them all, but there was no harm in being prepared. Really prepared.

"I wonder if I'll have time to re-read this?" Hermione indicated a surprisingly thin, but difficult, book that her ancient runes professor had assigned.

"Knowing the noise Ron and Harry make? Probably not." Ginny said. Ginny was the practical reader of the two of them- she read more than most girls her age did, but she could honestly say "No, I'm not going to read this" when buying, packing, or just generally deciding over books.

"You're right." Years of Ginny, and the summer with Michelle, had made Hermione slightly more practical… though not by much.

The afternoon, and early evening, went by much like that. The two didn't talk much, save for "Do you think I'll really read-""No." and "Have you seen that yellow muggle sweater? I want it for the train, no matter where I sit, it's always cold." "Yes, your mum put it in the dresser." "Hermione, can I borrow that one muggle book about the hobbit? I like it." "Sure, and remind me that around your birthday."

Down the hall, the boys were packing for their lives, having not done any packing what so ever throughout the summer. (Hermione and Ginny jokingly gloated about this fact whenever one of the boys would run past the front room where the two girls were playing chess after dinner.)

And afterward the two girls slept peacefully, as did the rest of the household- save for two boys. They weren't up doing some late night packing, as everyone else had assumed, no- they were sneaking out and away. Ginny had been right when she got a hunch that they had a plan, but both girls had been wrong in the assumption that they would be able to hound them about it on the train. No, in reality, the boys had done their packing long ago- they had begun after forming the mere beginnings of a plan, long before Hermione had come to stay with the Weasley's.

"You remember what we have to do to get out, right?" A whispered question

"Of course, mate. I wouldn't forget something like that." The whispered reply.

And with that final question, the two boys, quieter than thieves, slipped out of Ron's bedroom window and into the night.

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**A/N: I hope you guys liked it! I am going to warn the major Harry and Ron fans- they will not be major characters in this at all. **

**Anything horse related (horse care, riding, etc.) will be my own personal knowlege (unless someone's asking a question like "can't they-" in which case it will be a misconception) on horse care. I do have a horse, and have been riding for several years, but as you know, around horses there's always something to learn. **

**As always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask! Thank you so very much for reading!**


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